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On September 10, 2008, the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents executed a federal search warrant at Palm Springs Company, a bakery in Palm Springs, Florida, arresting a current and former company supervisor on criminal charges and 51 other workers on immigration violations. The arrests and the execution of the search warrant at the Palm Springs Baking Company was the result of an ongoing probe by ICE that began in 2006 after ICE received a tip that the business was allegedly hiring illegal alien workers. Margarita Avilez Hernandez, who currently works as a supervisor for the Palm Springs Baking Company, and Alicia Ramirez, who formerly worked as a supervisor for the business, were charged with one count of continuing to employ unauthorized aliens. According to affidavit filed in support of the criminal arrest warrants, local law enforcement alerted ICE in 2006 that the Palm Springs Baking Company allegedly guaranteed employment to illegal aliens in exchange for a payment of approximately $3,000 for each worker. During the ensuing investigation, ICE agents submitted the names and Social Security numbers of more than 130 of the company's employees for verification and were advised that more than 100 of those numbers were invalid or did not match the accompanying name. In addition to the criminal arrests, ICE agents found 51 employees at the bakery who were found to be in the United States illegally. Twenty-seven of the illegal alien workers encountered at the baking company were detained. The remaining 24 illegal workers were being processed and will be likely be released on humanitarian grounds while they wait for a future immigration hearing date.

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